Fresh Loaf

BUDGET BUDDIES Richardson and Perdue at this morning's legislative breakfast.

Tuesday morning, Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and state House Speaker Glenn Richardson, speaking before a banquet room filled with business heavies, lobbyists and fellow lawmakers, outlined their legislative agendas for the session at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual “Eggs and Issues” breakfast at the Georgia World Congress Center.

There, over plates of eggs, sausage, and some hashbrown-stuffed tomato concoction, the elected officials said that, even with the state nearly $2 billion in the red, progress would take place.

After the jump, what Perdue, Cagle and Richardson said, in fancy bulletpoint style, about the upcoming legislative session.

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This was bound to happen. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce tossed its support behind two utility companies itching to build a coal power plant in Early County and echoed their claims that a Fulton County Superior Court judge overreached in her June 30 ruling that halted the beast.

From the Albany Herald:

ALBANY — Officials with the state and area chambers of commerce say they will lend their names to an application that will be filed today with the Georgia Court of Appeals asking that a Fulton County Superior Court judge’s decision interrupting construction of a coal-fired power plant in Early County be reconsidered.

Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore’s ruling on June 30 invalidated a permit granted by the state Environmental Protection Division to LS Power to begin construction on the $2 billion Longleaf Energy Station in rural Early County. Chamber officials say the decision threatens economic growth potential in Georgia by hampering the state’s ability to meet the demand for reliable and affordable power.

“We’re shocked at the decision,” George Israel, president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said during a meeting Tuesday with The Albany Herald Editorial Board. “If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will not only hinder the ability to supply power to the state, it will have a major negative impact on future economic development in Georgia.”

Patricia Barmeyer, an attorney for one of the companies proposing the plant, says the judge’s ruling set back the project for one year.

The fallout from this ruling has been substantial. For one thing, the ruling was the first of its kind in the country. Moore’s decision even put the brakes on another coal power plant near Sandersville, Ga. The ruling even sparked a bit of Silkwood-esque drama; The Sierra Club received death threats two weeks ago because it supported GreenLaw, the environmental law firm that led the fight against the plant.

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